Immunotherapy is a new treatment cycle of immunotherapy delivered after standard chemotherapy. Various immune therapy drugs or immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are routinely used to treat renal cell carcinoma (RCC), but the effects of ICI rechallenge in RCC remain to be uncertain. The objective of this study is to investigate the safety and efficacy of ICI rechallenge in patients with metastatic RCC.
In this retrospective, multicenter, cohort study, a total of 69 patients with metastatic RCC were included. The patients were assigned to receive either single-agent ICI therapy (ICI-1) or ICI in combination with other therapies (ICI-2). The primary outcomes of the study were overall response rate and immune-related adverse events.
The most common therapy given to the participants was ICI-1. The findings suggested that most patients discontinued ICI-1 because of disease progression (72%) or toxic effects (23%). The overall response rate of ICI-1 therapy was 37%, as compared with 23% with ICI-2. Among patients who had previously responded to ICI-1 therapy, the likelihood of response at ICI-2 was greatest. Immune-related adverse events occurred in 26% of patients receiving ICI-1 and in 16% of those receiving ICI-2.
The research concluded that ICI rechallenge in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma could be safe and effective, with an overall response rate of 23%.
Ref: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2766793?resultClick=1
